Wexford student wins first prize at Heritage Council LEGO® awards

Wexford’s Tadhg Sinnott has won gold at the Heritage at Play ceremony for his LEGO® model of Mise agus Pangur Bán…

The Cliffs of Moher, a piano accordion, Dr Hyde Park and Phil Lynott are among the winning and runner-up entries to a competition organised by the Heritage Council, which tasked children with recreating their favourite example of Irish heritage using LEGO® and to explain what their chosen subject meant to them.

The competition finale, which took place at Kilkenny’s Medieval Mile Museum the eve of World LEGO Day (Saturday January 27^th), was also attended by LEGO®Brick Artist and competition judge Jessica Farrell.

The competition received more than 150 entries from across the island, with entrants turning to all aspects of Ireland’s rich and varied built, natural and cultural heritage for inspiration. The competition was open to children aged between four and twelve years, with two age categories: 4-to-7-years, and 8-to-12-years. Children were asked to build their model, choose their category, write a short description of what their model represents and why it’s important to them, and then take a photo of the model and submit it via the Heritage Council website.

Winners of both categories took home a ‘How to build LEGO® dinosaurs’ book and an OPW Heritage Card, while winners in the 4-7-year-old categories will be awarded a LEGO® classic set, with a LEGO® creator set going to the winners of the older categories.

The full list of winners are:

Ages 4-to-7 years:

• Built heritage – James Sturgeon “Newgrange”
• Cultural heritage – Harrison McKeoin “Phil Lynnot”
• Natural heritage – Cian Crowley “Irish Lynx”

Ages 8-to-12 years:

• Built heritage – Toby and Aoibhín Egan “Thatched Cottage”
• Cultural heritage – Tadhg Sinnott “Mise agus Pangur Bán”
• Natural heritage – Aedan Murray “Turnstone”

The winning entries are now on display at a special exhibition at Kilkenny’s Medieval Mile Museum. The exhibition runs until the 8th of February.

Commenting on his work and why he chose it, Tadhg told Wexford Weekly that:

“I got a vision as I was falling asleep of a scribe hunched over a manuscript. When I woke in the morning, I felt inspired to try to make it from my Lego. Adding Pangur Bán came later. It brought the poetry, art, and history of the Medieval period to life. I had heard the poem many times and I had watched The Secret of Kells and How the Celts Saved Britain and I had recently visited Glendalough. This piece was inspired by all those things.!

LEGO®Brick Artist and competition judge Jessica Farrell said of Tadhg’s work:

“This delightful rendition of a monk working on an illuminated manuscript is as entertaining as it is accurate. I enjoyed reading about the inspiration from poetry and love the cat-and-mouse sub-plot. Fantastic job, Tadhg!”